Head Coach David Wagner has outlines his plans and thoughts on Town’s opening friendly of the pre-season calendar at Guiseley AFC on Wednesday night.

Wagner plans to give all 21 fit senior players, plus U21 goalkeeper Luke Coddington, 45 minutes in the game at Nethermoor against the Vanarama National League side (Joe Murphy is continuing his recovery from his shoulder injury).

David is fully focussed on the fitness element that the friendly will offer to his side just a few days after the football work recommenced at PPG Canalside, as he explained to htafc.com on Tuesday.

“We look at this friendly as a part of training. We want to improve the fitness and I want everyone to come to his limit on that side; that’s what I’m looking for tomorrow.

“The biggest part of fitness will come from training and the friendlies are part of that. The games are important, but no more or less than the training.

“Having a game with the new kit on is important, but the main aim is that everyone is healthy afterwards.”

Despite this, Wagner explained that there are some benefits that the game will offer over and above training sessions.

“It’s good that the players have to focus for a full 45 minutes, then experience a short break and refocus for another 45. In training you sometimes have shorter periods and that’s the biggest difference. It’s good that you adapt your body quickly to the rhythm of a game.

“It will also be good for our new players, particularly from abroad, to get used to the communication in games. They have a vocabulary they have to learn; terms like ‘shuffle over’, ‘cross; very simple, easy things you will use very often. This is very important as well.

“It will also give me an idea and an overview of how far away we are from bringing our identity back to the pitch. Tomorrow I do not expect our highest level because we have only been together on the pitch for five days.”

The Head Coach explained that he expects his side’s performances to look completely ready for the Sky Bet Championship campaign when the players head out to Austria to face SV Werder Bremen and FC Ingolstadt 04 on 23 July.

“I think that when we play in Austria, we will have spoken about everything in our offence and defence. By that point we will have shown the players enough clips and will have worked enough on the pitch to show our strategy and identity.

“Before we have the chance to work on every single detail with the players in training, I cannot expect to see everything from them in friendlies. Hopefully in Austria, we will see very stable, consistent and good performances.

“Again, it is our biggest advantage that we have nearly the whole group together so early to show them this. At the end of next week we should have a few more new signings and it is great to have them all working with us in each meeting and training session.

“Harmony is a big part of football and the longer we are together, the more harmony we will build up.”

For admission info on Wednesday night’s game at Guiseley AFC, click HERE.